Understanding the Lived Experience of Medical Tourists Referring to Hospitals and Clinics in Shiraz, Iran

Background and objectives: Since recent years, medical tourism has become one of the mostimportant sources of revenue for health system in many countries. This study aimed to developan understanding of medical tourists’ lived experiences who were going to the hospitals andclinics in Shiraz, Iran, which would be beneficial for the health policy makers, helping them tomake more effective and evidence-based decisions in this regard.Methods: In this phenomenological study, we selected participants by purposive samplingmethod. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were done for collecting the data and it wascontinued until data saturation was achieved. Also, MAXQDA software was used for analyzingthe data.Result: A total of ۱۶ medical tourists were interviewed which all of them traveled from Arabicspeaking countries. Positive experiences of medical tourists outweigh their negativeexperiences and comprised of three main themes including low treatment costs, high quality ofmedical services and nursing, sightseeing tourist attraction. Also, their negative experiencesconsisted of four main themes comprising cultural and religious issues, choosing the hospitalsand clinics, accommodation, and communication and language matters.Conclusion: Based on the obtained findings, negative experiences have negative effects onpatients’ satisfaction and loyalty. Addressing challenges by health policy makers seem veryessential to promote this industry in Iran.

کلیدواژه ها:

Medical Tourism ، Health Tourism ، Health Tourism Development ، Iran